Top Private Voice and Piano Students Honored at Recent Concert

We are proud to

announce:

$10,323 in music

scholarship funds

distributed since

FOM’s founding

in Sept. of 2009.

New FOM Board

Members bring

total to thirteen

Directors.

Inside this issue:

New — Dr. Will

Fisher YC

Choral Music

Scholarship

Fund

2

Matt Sanders

Also Moving On

2

Chamber

Singers at NAU

Jazz/Madrigal

Festival

3

Trombone

Donation

3

Jazz Bands

Heading to

Reno Jazz

Festival

3

Some Parting

Thoughts from

Dr. Fisher

4

May, 2011 Volume 1, Issue 3

Music Notes

Meg Bohrman (Piano), Ryne Carlson

(Voice) and Michellinda Sylvester (Voice)

were honored as this year’s Top Private

Piano and Voice Students and were fea-

tured performers at our recent Choral

Union Concert in March.

They Shared Their Thoughts With Us.

Meg says that her experiences at the YC

Music Dept. have been both uplifting and

depressing, stretching her so far that she

often wonders why she chose to work so

hard, when there are other things to do in

life! However, “Dr. Fisher and my other

teachers really want me to succeed. That

gives me the strength to rise to the chal-

lenges and give my all.”

One challenge is fitting the demands of

being a wife and mother into her schedule.

She will be taking an extra year to finish at

YC with subjects like biology and history,

although she still plans to continue piano

lessons and choir. Ultimately, she will pur-

sue her dream of a career in Music Therapy

at ASU. Patience, Meg! You’ll make a great

therapist with your positive attitude!

Ryne Carlson will graduate from YC this

May with an Associate of Arts Degree. He

has shared his multiple talents in many

areas during his two years in the Music

Department. He has taken private piano

and voice lessons and sung in both Cham-

ber Choir and Chamber Singers. He has

performed in Honors Recitals many times

and also accompanied other voice students

and various choirs. Oh yes, Ryne also

played percussion instruments in the YC

Symphony Orchestra.

He will continue his education this fall at

NAU, aiming for a degree in Music Educa-

tion with an emphasis on choral music. His

ultimate goal is to teach high school band

and choir. He recently said, “I hope to be-

come another Dr. Fisher!” You go, Ryne!

Michellinda Sylvester will continue training

her beautiful voice at NAU this fall. She will

be working on a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal

Performance, hoping to be in NAU’s Opera

Program. Although she also plays piano

and flute, her passion is singing.

“I will always remember Yavapai College as

having had a very special impact on my

life,” she commented.” You have had a very

special impact on Yavapai College, too,

Michellinda. We wish you well!

Friends of Music — Enhancing Music Education at Yavapai College

Michellinda, Ryne and Meg (left to right), this

year’s Top Private Piano and Voice Students,

all received Friends of Music (FOM) private

lesson scholarships this past year, thanks to

you, our supporters.

Page 2 Music Notes

The packed house at the May 8th Choral

Union Concert got exciting news! In honor

of Dr. Fisher’s retirement and to celebrate

his extraordinary contributions to the

world of music and the lives of his YC stu-

dents over the past 27 years, a generous

donation has been made to establish the

"Dr. Will Fisher Yavapai College Choral

Music Scholarship Fund.” These scholar-

ships will recognize outstanding choral

students who exemplify artistic and aca-

demic promise at YC.

Established by a former choral music

student who enjoyed years singing in Dr.

Will’s choirs, the endowment will be a

permanent and perpetual legacy that

supports future generations of choral

students.

Dr. Will Fisher Honored at May 8th Choral Union Concert with

Endowed Scholarship Fund

Also, the Friends of Music announced

that it will reallocate funds from the FOM

Choral Scholarship Endowment Fund to

this new endowment fund. This is just the

beginning of a campaign by FOM and the

YC Foundation to increase the size of the

Dr. Will Fisher Fund and to be able to

award additional, future scholarships.

We hope that one of the joys of Dr.

Fisher’s retirement years will be watching

this fund grow and following the careers

of YC choral music students, including

future recipients of the “Dr. Will Fisher

Scholarships.”

To add to the fund, contact Kim Flores,

YCF Coordinator, at 928.776.2025 or

kimberly.flores@yc.edu.

myself as a person and a musician. Dr.

Fisher is a fantastic director, mentor and

friend. My time under

his instruction was the

greatest education I

could have ever had.”

Matt, who says they

“think alike,” has seen

great progress, from

record choral enroll-

ments and private

voice scholarships to

the formation of FOM to

sellout Holiday Dinner Concerts in Decem-

ber of 2010, which provided funds for the

new choral endowment fund.

Parting words from Matt: “Thank you to all

my friends and family for all your help,

laughter, and support, to Dr. Fisher for

EVERYTHING, and to Brandi, my beautiful

wife, for the push that brought me to this

point. I love you all.”

Matt Sanders, Dr. Fisher’s assistant, will

be leaving this summer with wife, Brandi,

and daughter, Bella,

for Lansing, MI, where

he will attend Michigan

State, working towards

a Music Education

Degree.

He started at YC five

years ago with no spe-

cific goals in mind.

Brandi (also a YC cho-

ral music student) suggested he get “back

into music.” They lived near Dr. Fisher and

their talks influenced Matt’s decision to

study choral music rather than go back to

his sax and bassoon playing. He became a

full-time college student!

In Matt’s words, his experience at YC has

been “fantastic.” Hired as Dr. Fisher’s as-

sistant, he says, “I learned so much about

Matt Sanders (Dr. Fisher’s Assistant) Also Moving On

Matt Sanders hard at work “assisting.”

“I learned so

much about

myself as a

person and a

musician. Dr.

Fisher is a

fantastic

director, mentor

and friend.”

The YC Chamber Singers participated in

the annual Northern Arizona University

Vocal Jazz Madrigal Festival in February. It

is one of the largest festivals of its kind in

the Southwestern United States.

They performed three Jazz songs and

three Madrigals and received ratings of

Superior for both categories.

The Chamber Singers perform as a service

ensemble for the public school music com-

munity. They are ambassadors for Yavapai

College, performing choral workshops in

the local public and private schools.

Chamber Singers a Success at Recent NAU Jazz/Madrigal Festival

Catherine plays trombone in the jazz band

and euphonium in the symphonic band.

At the recent FOM Annual Meeting, YC

student Zack Tighe proudly played a Tele-

mann Sonata on this new trombone and

he felt it really enhanced his performance.

To donate an instrument for use by YC

music students, contact Dr. Breiling at

928.776.2004 or roy.breiling@yc.edu.

Trombone Donation Catalyzed by Music Notes Article

In the previous issue of Music Notes, we

offered a loving home to lonely instru-

ments in good working order that would

like to be played more.

We are pleased to announce that our arti-

cle inspired Catherine Noll, an FOM mem-

ber, to spring into action. She had been

thinking about donating a like-new trom-

bone to the department for a while and

the article helped her decide to do it!

Page 3 Volume 1, Issue 3

The YC Music Department’s Jazz Bands

have set their sights on participating in

the 50th Annual Reno Jazz Festival in

2012. Since its inception in 1962, the

Reno Jazz Festival and its sponsor, the

University of Nevada, Reno, have hosted

some of the finest jazz students, musi-

cians and educators in the country.

A wonderful experience for instrumental

music students, they perform and com-

pete amongst an amazing group of jazz

musicians.

Jazz Bands Heading to 2012 University of Nevada Jazz Festival —

Fund Raising in Full Swing

If you would like to support this effort and

help them reach their goal, you can send

a donation to the Yavapai College Foun-

dation at the address below, indicating

that it is for the 2012 Jazz Ensemble

trip to Reno. Or contact Dr. Breiling at

928.776.2004. Thanks!!!

Jeanne Welch

Director of Finance & Operations

Yavapai College Foundation

1100 E. Sheldon St. #6904

Prescott, AZ 86301

Chamber Singers at the NAU Jazz/Madrigal Festival

1100 E Sheldon St

Prescott, AZ 86301 - 3297

928.776.2025

kimberly.flores@yc.edu

www.yc.edu/YCF

Click on “Friends of Music”

Friends of Music - Yavapai

College

Enhancing Music Education at Yavapai College

Since

1972,

the

Yavapai

College

Founda-

tion has

been committed to excel-

lence in education and to

enhancing the opportunities

of Yavapai College’s stu-

dents, faculty and local

communities.

YCF is an independent

501 (C) (3) organization

that actively seeks contribu-

tions from a variety of pub-

lic and private sources,

including individuals,

corporations and other

foundations.

Music Notes

Editors:

Donna Sherwin

Sharon Anderson

Contact Donna at

fommusicnotes@gmail.com

928.717.0931

Music Notes is published

quarterly by the Friends of

Music—YC, an Auxiliary of the

Yavapai College

Foundation

Twenty seven years of teaching at Yavapai

College has taught me a number of things.

First, I believe that people involved with

music are truly good people. Thousands of

hours of practice have gone into wonder-

ful concerts, providing Prescott with an

enhanced

cultural

climate.

Hundreds of

hours of

help from a

great staff

and the

multitude of

volunteers

have helped

raise the

standard of

these per-

formances.

And the

supporting

faculty who

prepare the

singers for our shows demonstrate a com-

mitment to the students beyond compre-

hension.

Second, Yavapai College as an institution

is truly a gift to the community. We really

are a place where everyone, young and

old alike, can participate in educational

and enrichment activities. The College

allows young people an opportunity

to pursue their musical dreams of build-

ing a career in music while equally allow-

ing mature citizens a chance to participate

in the musical arts.

Yes, Yavapai College is our College. We

are the citizens who financially support

this institution and we are the ones who

take advantage of its offerings. This Col-

lege is great for the community.

Some Parting Thoughts from Dr. Fisher — Retiring after 27 Years

at Yavapai College

Third, music as an art is indeed valuable.

Humanity developed this means of expres-

sion from the beginning of time. We have

not come up with a better way of sharing

the way we feel than through the art of

music. In an age when we seem to be find-

ing isolation

through

technology,

sitting next

to other

singers and

sharing a

melodic

line,

surrounded

by other

harmonic

lines, is a

process

that human-

izes us. We

feel a part

of some-

thing

bigger, a connection with the spark that

takes us back to the essential core of life.

Music reconnects us to happiness and

sadness, to courage and failure. We all

feel it, we all experience it. Music rocks.

Thank you folks for being inherently good

people, supporting our wonderful college

and participating in one of the grand art

forms of humanity. You have taught this

man much, and I love you all for your

tutelage.

Respectfully,

Will Fisher

Dr. Will Fisher has retired after a 37 year music

education career with 27 years as Director of Choral

Activities at YC. He is much loved by his students and the

community and will be greatly missed.